http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Allport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Batson - Daniel Batson thinks that pure
altruism is possible. He also mentions Quest, a form of being religious where questions are seen as important as answers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H._Leuba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Personality_and_Social_Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Experimental_Social_Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience - William James believes that the study of the origin of an object or an idea does not play a role in the study of its value. He asserts that
existential judgment, or the scientific examination of an object's origin, is a separate matter from that object's value. One must not consider an object's physical derivation when making a proposition of value.
William James described two types of spiritual health:
- The healthy mind. The healthy-minded have a naturally positive outlook on life. James assumed that some people simply are happy. "We find such persons in every age, passionately flinging themselves upon their sense of the goodness of life, in spite of the hardships of their own condition, and in spite of the sinister theologies in which they may be born. From the outset, their religion is one of union with the divine".
- The sick soul. Those people having a sick soul are those who are depressed and see the evil in all things. James believed that the only way for a sick soul to cure itself is to undergo a powerful mystical experience, or religious conversion. He argues these so-called "twice born" souls turn out to be the most healthy in the end, since they have seen life from both perspectives.